Cebu Holdings registers huge hike in net income

Cebu Holdings Inc. (CHI), the southern-based property development arm of the Ayala group, posted a strong 359-percent increase in its net income during the first quarter of this year as a result of higher revenues from its mall and condominium operations.

CHI, a 47-percent-owned affiliate of Ayala Land Inc. (ALI), registered a P14.4-million net profit during the period, outperforming its parent company’s growth in a traditionally slow first quarter.

Driving its revenue base is the anchor Ayala Center Cebu mall complex at the Cebu Business Park, which reported a 100-percent merchant leasing occupancy during the period, securing its niche position as the preferred shopping destination for its priority target markets in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.

Aside from the centerpiece Ayala Center, CHI has also built two other prime components in the Cebu Business Park: the City Sports Club Cebu and the Ayala Food and Entertainment Center which both opened last year.

City Sports Club Cebu, the sports and recreation component of the Cebu Business Park, is now fully functional and serving the needs of about a thousand shareholders and their family members. Revenue from the sale of shares registered P13 million for the first three months of the year.

As of the first quarter, Ayala Center contributed 55 percent or P65 million to CHI’s total revenues while 45 percent was accounted for by the development projects’ revenues.

These include the sale of condominium units worth about P30 million from Park Tower II and Ayala Life-FGU Center.

Meanwhile, CHI subsidiary, the 76 percent-owned Cebu Property Ventures and Development Corp. (CPVDC), posted a first-quarter total revenue of P3.5 million from real estate sales, 107 percent higher from that of the same period last year.

CPVDC has transformed the 24-hectare Cebu Civic & Trade Center into the Asiatown IT Park, the only IT zone approved by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority outside Luzon.

CHI and its subsidiaries maintain a strong balance sheet with total assets of P4.5 billion while CPVDC’s total assets stand at P1.03 billion. – Conrado Diaz Jr.